Author: kenmay

Four of America’s Tallest Buildings Are Being Built on the Same Street

While most of the supertall building boom spotlight has been placed China and the UAE over the past few months, there’s an even more staggering development happening much, much closer to home. At least four 1, 000-foot-plus skyscrapers are set to rise along (or adjacent to) West 57th Street over the next few years, each of the tall enough to change America’s skyline forever. Read more…        

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Four of America’s Tallest Buildings Are Being Built on the Same Street

Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 7 is available now as a Release Preview

Microsoft announced back at its Build developer conference that it was bringing Internet Explorer 11 to Windows 7, and it’s already partially made good on that promise by letting developers get an early look. By now, though, the company’s given the browser enough spit and polish that it’s ready for public consumption: the Release Preview is now available for anybody to download. As you’d expect, Microsoft claims IE11 is the fastest desktop browser available, and that it’s 30 percent quicker than the next-fastest browser (that would be Firefox, or at least that’s what Microsoft says). Also, the Release Preview is apparently a bit speedier than the Developer Preview was back in June: Redmond says average SunSpider scores have dropped from 144ms to an even-better 137ms. At any rate, now that the browser’s available, you’re free to download it and benchmark it yourself, if that’s what floats your boat. Filed under: Software , Microsoft Comments Source: Microsoft (1) , (2)

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Internet Explorer 11 for Windows 7 is available now as a Release Preview

How to Change Siri’s Voice in iOS 7

Siri got a bit of an upgrade in iOS 7 , including new male and female voices, multiple new languages, and some smarter commands (not to mention a few more jokes). If you’d rather speak to your iPhone or iPad in your own language, or have a male virtual assistant instead of a female one, here’s how to make the change. Read more…        

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How to Change Siri’s Voice in iOS 7

Tesla’s ‘autopilot’ car project targets 90 percent of miles driven, three years from now

Tesla CEO Elon Musk has discussed the company’s ambitions to build a self-driving car on more than one occasion, and now he’s revealed a bit more about its plans. After reports today about a job listing for an Advanced Driver Assistance Systems Controls Engineer, he spoke to the Financial Times and confirmed the company is working on a form of autopilot in-house. Expressing his opinion that fully autonomous cars may be a bit too difficult to achieve right now, he said Tesla “should be able to do 90 per cent of miles driven within three years.” Other major car companies — Mercedes, GM, Volvo and Continental, just to name a few — have projects for either full or partial car self-control, but they’re still under development for reasons both technical and legal. Also hanging in the balance is Google’s autonomous car project, although from Musk’s statements it appears Tesla has decided to go its own wa y on the technology. The three year target is an ambitious one, but we’ll put this one somewhere between Iron Man and Hyperloop on the Musk scale. Filed under: Transportation Comments Via: Reuters Source: FT

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Tesla’s ‘autopilot’ car project targets 90 percent of miles driven, three years from now

An incredible new polymer that heals itself to 97% efficiency

The Spanish scientists who developed it are calling it the ‘Terminator’ Polymer — and for good reason. Like the T-1000 blown to bits, it can spontaneously and independently repair itself without any outside intervention. Read more…        

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An incredible new polymer that heals itself to 97% efficiency

The new lifecycle of your old iPhone

Clifford Joseph Kozak After handling the entire digital expression of your life for one, two, or more years, the most mercenary and practical end that a smartphone can meet is to be sold off secondhand. Wheeling and dealing with used personal electronics is not a new business, but in the last few years, it’s been writ very large with the glut of tiny hand-computers we’re all using lately. Where those devices go after you sell them into wanting hands (Gazelle and NextWorth are two services that make their business on these transactions) has shifted a bit over the years. In the early days of the iPhone, companies were built on the activity of breaking down old iPhones into parts for repairing those still in use (or so some of the shadier companies claimed). Per a report in the New York Times back in 2008, one company named PCS Wireless claimed that 94-95 percent of the second-hand phones it obtained were broken down into parts. The source claimed at the time that the screens alone could fetch $200. Read 12 remaining paragraphs | Comments        

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The new lifecycle of your old iPhone

Firefox 24 arrives with WebRTC video chats on Android, quick-close tabs on desktop

Mozilla has just released Firefox 24, and this refresh lavishes most of its attention on the Android version. The updated mobile browser enables WebRTC support, letting Android users conduct web-based video chats without a plugin. These surfers can also share browser tabs between NFC-capable devices, launch a preferred sharing app from the main menu, read in Braille and enable a Night mode in Reader. Desktop users aren’t completely left out of the upgrade frenzy, however. Firefox 24 lets them quickly close all tabs to the right of a selected tab, drag out chat windows and use the stealthier scrollbars in OS X Lion and newer. If you’re intrigued by any of the new Firefox clients, you can grab the edition you need at one of the source links. Filed under: Cellphones , Internet , Software , Mobile Comments Via: Mozilla Blog (1) , (2) Source: Firefox , Google Play

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Firefox 24 arrives with WebRTC video chats on Android, quick-close tabs on desktop